Cascade Conference Well Represented in Cross Country Polls
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –The Southern Oregon men topped the NAIA cross country poll for the second straight week Wednesday.
The Raiders placed first in its season opener of the season, the Humboldt State Invitational. Southern Oregon received 19 of the 21 first-place votes and 590 points to earn the No. 1 ranking. The College of Idaho climbed from No. 15 to No. 9. Eastern Oregon went from No. 11 to No. 12. Concordia received four votes.
Cal State San Marcos and Oklahoma Baptist jumped two spots in this week's poll. The Cougars earned the last two first-place votes and tallied 558 points to gain the No. 2 position. The Bison received 549 points to receive the No. 3 ranking. Falling two spots in this week's poll is Lewis-Clark State (Idaho). The Warriors collected 541 points for the No. 4 spot. Rounding out the top five is Shawnee State (Ohio) who tallied 497 points.
Two teams that make the jump into the poll are No. 17 Arizona Christian and No. 22 Indiana Wesleyan.
Two programs, St. Francis (Ill.) (No. 9) and Park (Mo.) (No. 22) fell out of this week's poll.
Fourteen conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) with four teams. Representing the GSAC are No. 7 The Master's (Calif.), No. 15 Westmont (Calif.), Arizona Christian and No. 21 Biola (Calif.).
On the women’s side, The College of Idaho remained the No. 4 team in the country. Northwest Christian slid from No. 5 to No. 7, and Southern Oregon is at No. 12 from No. 13. Northwest and Eastern Oregon received 103 and 10 votes.
Cal State San Marcos held its No. 1 ranking. The Cougars received all 21 first-place votes for 591 points to earn the No. 1 spot. This is the third consecutive poll the Cougars have held the No. 1 ranking dating back to the 2011 final poll.
British Columbia collected 572 points which earned the Thunderbirds the No. 2 ranking. Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) tallied 549 points to earn the No. 3 position. College of Idaho comes in at No. 4 with tallied 530 points. Rounding out the top 5 are Carroll (Mont.) and Biola (Calif.) as they both collected 505 points.
Joining the Top 25 are five teams that were not ranked in the preseason poll: No. 10 Concordia (Calif.), No. 18 St. Francis (Ill.), No. 22 Taylor (Ind.), No. 23 Illinois Tech and No. 24 Cumberlands (Ky.).
Five programs, Spring Arbor (Mich.) (No. 14), Trinity Christian (Ill.) (No. 19), Shawnee State (Ohio) (No. 22), Saint Xavier (Ill.) (No. 24) and Northwest (Wash.) (No. 25) fell out of the poll this week.
Eleven conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) with four ranked teams. Representing the GSAC are Biola, Concordia, No. 13 Westmont (Calif.) and No. 16 The Master's (Calif.). Concordia made the biggest jump in the polls from receiving votes to No. 10.
The polls were voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups. The second regular-season Top 25 poll will be announced on Sept. 19.